Enve's new Foundation Collection wheelsets offer the brand's legacy features at a keener price point
Enve's Foundation Collection 65 are disc-brake only(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
Enve’s Foundation Collection is the Utah composite specialist’s new, more affordable range of road bike wheels.
With all its rims handmade and wheelsets assembled in America, Enve has established a reputation for high-quality carbon-fibre cycling excellence. Location undoubtedly helps, as Enve’s facility is in Utah, home to many specialist aviation and engineering suppliers for the global aerospace industry.
Keen to democratise its product range, without sacrificing the features and ride quality that makes Enves so desirable, the company has now introduced a range of wheels which are more attainable in price, opening up the brand to a broader cycling audience.
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The Enve Foundation Collection is available with both 45 or 65mm rim profiling(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
The wheelset is designed to work exclusively with 25-28mm tubeless tyres(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
Sapim CX Sprint spokes are laced to Enve road alloy hubs, engaging via a 40T ratchet system(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
There's no mistaking what the 65 designation means(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
Enve graphics tastefully line up with the valve, matching the 65 moniker on the other side(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
The Foundation Collection has two road disc carbon wheelsets, both with the same fundamental technical features, but different rim depths of 45- and 65mm.
Both the 45 and 65-series Foundation Collection wheelsets feature a wide internal rim profile of 21mm to allow riders to benefit from the trend towards wider tyres. The rim shape has been studiously designed with aerodynamic principles in mind and is shaped to run optimally with 25- or 28C tyres.
With hookless rim construction, the Foundation Collection Enve 45 and 65s are tubeless compatible and feature 24 internally moulded spoke holes per wheel.
Enve’s technicians assemble each Foundation Collection wheelset with Sapim CX Sprint spokes, laced to Enve road alloy hubs, engaging via a 40T ratchet system. Rolling with contact sealed NTN steel bearings, these hubs have compatibility for Shimano, SRAM XDR and Campagnolo drivers.
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The hubs are designed for centre-lock brake rotors too, avoiding the annoyance of having to recheck the torque values of six traditional brake bolts.
Enve’s weight claims for these new Foundation Collection wheelset are 1540g (45) and 1620g (65).
Price position for the Foundation Collection wheelsets are £1,800 and each will come with the company’s Lifetime Incident Protection Program. This commercial agreement means that if you are the original owner and damage your Foundation wheelset, Enve will replace it.
Enve has added an Enduro mountain bike wheelset to the Foundation Collection as well. Available in both 27.5 and 29er, they are built around Industry Nine hubs and feature Enve's wide hookless bead which they claim delivers a 50% improvement in pinch flat resistance.
Lance Branquinho is a Namibian born media professional, with 15-years of experience in technology and engineering journalism covering anything with wheels. Being from Namibia, he knows a good gravel road when he sees one, and he has raced some of Africa’s best-known mountain bike stage races, such as Wines2Wales and Berg&Bush.
